Sorcha Bradley
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sorchabradley.bsky.social
Sorcha Bradley
@sorchabradley.bsky.social
150 followers 430 following 6 posts
Senior Staff Writer at The Week. I write Politics Unspun, a weekly newsletter from The Week that digests the most important news from Westminster and beyond. Free in your inbox every Thursday: https://theweek.com/politics-unspun-newsletter
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Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
jamesomalley.co.uk
This is infuriating. If the government want an easy win for growth and to support pubs, they should change the licensing laws to make noise complaints much harder.

www.the-londoner.co.uk/noise-compla...
Noise complaints are killing London’s pubs
We mapped the dozens of pubs forced to shut early or that faced closure last year due to everything from “faint giggles” to “constant honking” from cars.
www.the-londoner.co.uk
February 1, 2025 at 8:37 AM
sorchabradley.bsky.social
Peter Kyle goes full tech bro this afternoon launching the new Digital Centre of Government in a t-shirt and jeans. And demonstrates the new Gov.uk AI chat bot by asking it what he should do if he’s sacked in a reshuffle 🤖
January 21, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
financialtimes.com
FT Exclusive: Details of the gift raise fresh questions about Tulip Siddiq’s ability to distance herself from corruption allegations, having been named in a probe last month by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh. www.ft.com/content/88ee...
January 3, 2025 at 4:47 PM
sorchabradley.bsky.social
🚨 In Politics Unspun

👉 Nigel Farage meets Elon Musk
Will a rumoured $100 million (£78 million) donation to Reform UK from Musk materialise?

👉The Royal Mail takeover
Royal Mail leaves British ownership for the first time in its 500-year history

💡 Plus more stories inside: tinyurl.com/msf2h78v
December 19, 2024 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
josh.politics.co.uk
Labour MP @cliveefford.bsky.social on Reform UK and Elon Musk:

“I wonder what it means when a party talks about sovereignty and then is willing to sell itself entirely to a foreign owner.

“Our politics is not up for sale”

Commons leader Lucy Powell: “I think he makes some extremely valid points.”
December 19, 2024 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
estwebber.bsky.social
✍️ Once MPs had far looser ties to their seats.

MPs now increasingly consumed with local issues — and 2024 election has accentuated the trend.

“Never enough hours in the day to feel like you're doing all of the job well. Legislative scrutiny's taking a back seat"
www.politico.eu/article/brit...
Britain’s Winston Churchill shortage
Westminster is becoming a local place for local people — and that means fewer star politicians.
www.politico.eu
December 18, 2024 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
passantino.bsky.social
L.A. Times opinion staffers notify the executive editor that Soon-Shiong has banned criticism of Donald Trump unless its "presented side-by-side with another opinion piece representing the 'opposing view,’" via @oliverdarcy.bsky.social
www.status.news/p/patrick-so...
Meddling for MAGA
Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, has dismayed staffers as he curtails critical coverage of Donald Trump.
www.status.news
December 17, 2024 at 2:15 AM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
lucyfisher.ft.com
EXCL: More than 10,000 civil service jobs are set to be cut under ministers’ plans to make savings across Whitehall in spending review

Govt will not impose top-down cap, but a range of depts are expected to roll out voluntary redundancy programmes

on.ft.com/4gvWI1Y
More than 10,000 UK civil service jobs to be cut
[FREE TO READ] Voluntary redundancies expected across Whitehall as departments respond to chancellor’s spending review
on.ft.com
December 12, 2024 at 7:57 AM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
pickardje.bsky.social
ministers have today dropped a promise that new housing developments on low-grade greenbelt land (aka 'gray belt') would have to have 50% affordable homes
December 12, 2024 at 12:30 PM
sorchabradley.bsky.social
🚨 In Politics Unspun

👉 Reeves' 'war on waste'
Chancellor calls for gov't departments to find up to 5% in "efficiency savings"

👉 Government pauses Syrian asylum claims
6,500+ asylum claims from Syrian nationals are now on hold, following the fall of Assad

💡 Plus more stories to keep an 👁️ on below
Hereditary peers took a last stand against legislation to abolish the 92 seats reserved in the House of Lords for those who inherit their titles. The House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, which had its second reading in the upper chamber on Wednesday, was described as a "thoroughly nasty little Bill" by Lord Strathclyde, the former Conservative leader of the Lords. He said the plans had been "rushed through" to "throw some red meat to extreme Labour". With the legislation set to pass, others are more resigned to their fate. One hereditary peer, said The Times, is said to have asked officials if there would be redundancy pay. Rael Braverman, husband of Suella, defected to Reform this week, intensifying speculation that his wife, the former home secretary, could soon follow suit. So far, Braverman has rejected the notion, telling The Times: "This is the 21st century and not the 18th – my husband does not speak for me nor does he control my political affiliations." Billionaire property tycoon Nick Candy has also renounced his Conservative Party membership to take up a fundraising role with Nigel Farage's party. Prison spaces will run out, the justice secretary has warned. Shabana Mahmood said this week that government plans for building more prisons alone was "not enough". As part of its Plan for Change, the government said it's going to add 14,000 new prison places by 2031. But Mahmood warned "we will run out" as "demand is rising faster than any supply could possibly catch up with". A sentencing review, headed by former Tory justice secretary David Gauke, will look at long-term solutions to prison overcrowding.
December 12, 2024 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
aronlund.bsky.social
For @financialtimes.com, Sarah Dadouche and Raya Jalabi sit in on meetings between ministry staff in Damascus and their increasingly exasperated new bosses from Tahrir al-Sham. www.ft.com/content/7efc...
December 11, 2024 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
jessicaelgot.bsky.social
Full story - Two ministers are to be assigned to the assisted dying bill in a highly unusual move for a private member’s bill where the government is neutral, a sign it will intensely monitor the details of such a significant change.

www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
Two ministers to sit on assisted dying bill committee
Highly unusual move for private member’s bill is sign government will intensely monitor details of legislation
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2024 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
jim.londoncentric.media
Rush hour on the Old Kent Road looks different tonight.
December 11, 2024 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
handle.invalid
‘Whelmed’ really means ‘capsized’ - the over and under were added later for effect. But you can be consolate: consoled and comforted. And gruntled too.
hankgreen.bsky.social Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · Dec 10
I can be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but I can’t be whelmed.

Or, at least, I think theoretically I could but the way I have set up my life seems to have made it very difficult.

I would love to spend more of my life whelmed. Someone whelm me.
December 10, 2024 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
fatscoleman.bsky.social
Doing a mental detox at the moment: deleted my Twitter, listening to more Radio 4, and just resubscribed to @theweek.com. Honestly feeling so much better already.
December 6, 2024 at 11:51 AM
sorchabradley.bsky.social
A few key issues to keep an eye on in the wider world of politics below 🔍

Also in Politics Unspun:

🤔Is Starmer pulling a Sunak?
🛑 Stalking victims to be given a 'right to know' the identity of their abuser
💍 Should the UK ban marriage between cousins?

Subscribe: theweek.com/politics-uns...
What to watch out for Michel Barnier has been ousted as France's prime minister after just three months following a no-confidence vote led by Marine Le Pen's far-right party and a left-wing coalition. Barnier is expected to officially resign after his government became the first to be toppled by a no-confidence vote in more than 60 years. His political "defenestration" comes after snap elections in the summer that left the country with a hung parliament, and France's far right holding sway, said The Guardian. President Emmanuel Macron will now have to quickly choose a successor to steer the government for the remaining two years of his term amid calls for his own resignation. Macron is set to give a televised speech at 7pm today. BBC Director General Tim Davie will be grilled by MPs over allegations against "MasterChef" host Gregg Wallace during his upcoming appearance before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Committee chair Caroline Dinenage told The Independent that while Davie's session, expected before Christmas, will focus on the BBC World Service, the allegations surrounding Wallace "will also come up". The 60-year-old TV presenter is accused of inappropriate behaviour spanning 17 years, with more than a dozen individuals reportedly coming forward. Britain is in danger of losing its marbles, or perhaps more accurately Greece's marbles, depending on which side of the debate you're on. Keir Starmer has reportedly "signalled" to Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis that the UK government "wouldn't block a potential deal" to hand back the Parthenon Sculptures to Greece if a legal resolution could be found, said Bloomberg. The pair reportedly discussed the 200-year-old dispute at a Downing Street meeting yesterday. The British Museum is forbidden by law from giving away any of its artefacts. But there are discussions over lending the Elgin Marbles back to Greece temporarily in exchange for a rolling display of other Greek artefacts. Speaking on the Political Cur…
December 5, 2024 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social
The biggest danger for Ukraine could be Donald Trump’s desire for a quick success in ending the war. He’ll put huge pressure on Ukraine to accept a maximum loss of territory, and may well not insist on foolproof ways of stopping Russia coming back for more, later on.
December 4, 2024 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
jim.londoncentric.media
Bleak account of working in local papers for Newsquest, which continues to send millions of pounds a year to its US private equity owners, while producing "cheap, synthetic, low-quality fare" and using AI reporters to cover councils. westcountryvoices.co.uk/ultra-proces...
December 3, 2024 at 10:51 AM
sorchabradley.bsky.social
🚨 Another packed edition of Politics Unspun is out today! Featuring artwork by The Week's illustrator Stephen Kelly ✨

The top headlines:

🔍 Are Labour's work reforms up to the job?
💥 The 'toxic' row over physician associates

Get it in your inbox every Thursday:
theweek.com/politics-uns...
November 28, 2024 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
marcsettle.bsky.social
My favourite (linguistic) fact about snow: we used to say “it snew” when using the verb in the past tense.

Much like “grow/grew”, throw/threw” & “know/knew”, it used to be snow/snew.

I bet you never knowed that.

(Factoid from the excellent @englishhistpod.bsky.social)
Another strong verb which had a very similar history was the verb 'to snow.' Believe it or not, at one time, the past tense of snow was snew in many parts of the British Isles. So you might say, "It snew yesterday." Eventually, snew was replaced with snowed, but snew lingered on in some dialects of northern England until the past couple of centuries.
November 19, 2024 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social
People naturally worry that Biden letting Kyiv use US missiles deep into Russia risks nuclear war. It doesn’t. Putin hopes he just has to endure two months of attacks until Trump comes in and helps him reach a settlement favourable to Russia.
November 18, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Sorcha Bradley
theweek.com
Not a stupid question - our digital operation is a mixture of twice-daily news editions curated by our editors, arts and lifestyle features and longer more analytical content, distilled from dozens of the world's most trusted news sources. Have a look: theweek.com/uk
Crink: the new autocractic 'axis of evil'
China, Russia, Iran and North Korea make up the 'axis of totalitarian states' colluding to undermine the West
theweek.com
November 18, 2024 at 3:13 PM
sorchabradley.bsky.social
Labour is still grappling with divisions over the assisted dying bill. Last week's Politics Unspun dug into what's causing some of the doubts. Check it out here: tinyurl.com/23prjnpy
November 18, 2024 at 3:14 PM